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The defendant, of Westminster Road, admitted theft which took place over a period of about 18 months in 2015 and 2017.

Cook was a dyslexic warehouse worker promoted to clothing supervisor and earning the minimum wage when he started using his company card to purchase items at a discount.

But he then started stealing outright, prosecutor Emmi Wilson said.

He would take boxes out of the store, put them in his car and sell them online.

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In total the defendant stole more than 700 items of clothing with a retail price of £75,000.

He sold most of these on eBay but 336 items were found at his address and returned to the store which, in turn, managed to sell most to customers.

Ms Wilson said management at the store in Exeter could not understand why it was performing so badly for so long and two senior members of staff had been moved on for poor performance. Customers were often told items were out of stock.

Mr Justin Rouse QC said the full loss to the company was much less than £75,000 when mark up and other factors were taken into consideration.

He said Cook led a lonely life and had got into serious debt trying to sustain a lifestyle he could not afford.

The defendant, who has no previous convictions, was sorry for what he had done.